


Monday Morning

by maplestreet83



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: El and Will meeting for the first time, I really wanted to see these two properly meet each other and become friends, so i wrote a little fic for it, takes place the morning after the gate is closed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-20 10:08:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13715436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maplestreet83/pseuds/maplestreet83
Summary: El wakes up in the Byers house on Monday the 5th of November 1984. There is someone she should meet. Properly this time.





	Monday Morning

As she slowly drifted awake El could hear soft voices coming from another room. Opening her eyes just a crack she looked around in the bedroom; soft morning light was coming in through the curtains and paper vines covering the windows. Slowly pushing herself up to lean on her elbows, El faintly remembered how Hopper had carried her to sleep in Will’s bedroom after returning from the lab. She still felt drained, but the exhaustion had passed a little. Bringing her hand up to rub her tired eyes she noticed smudges of black makeup and realized she was still wearing the clothes she had gotten from Kali.

There was a soft knock and El jumped a bit, immediately turning to face the door.

“Yes?” she asked cautiously, her voice cracked and raspy. The door opened just a bit and Joyce looked in. If El felt tired and drained, she could tell that Joyce was feeling the same, or even worse. On the way to the lab, Hopper had briefly told El about Bob and she could see it really had hurt Joyce a lot. But despite the heavy dark circles under her eyes and her pale face, she smiled sweetly at El, just like when she had helped her get ready for the bath in the science classroom. 

“Morning, sweetie. The shower is free now, Jim told me you were too tired to wash up last night, so I thought you would like to now?” El ran her hand through her sticky gelled hair and looked down to see slight blood stains on the pillow.

“Yes, thank you,” she said quietly, looking over at Joyce who nodded and came in, holding a towel and a pile of clothes.

“I got you some of mine and Jonathan’s old clothes. I don’t think these are as fashionable as yours are, but they are warm and clean,” she said calmly, setting the pile on the bed. El got up, walking around the bed to feel the soft fabric of the clothes with her fingers.

“Did you sleep well, honey?” Joyce asked, gently wrapping her arm around El’s shoulders. El nodded, leaning her head on the older woman’s shoulder.

“Did you?” she asked, looking up at Joyce.

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about me sweetie,” she said quietly, trying her best to hide the pain visible in her eyes, rubbing El’s shoulder gently.

“Once you have showered, you can come to the kitchen, I’ll get you some breakfast. You must be starving,” she continued, letting go of El and heading back toward the door. El felt her stomach rumble at the mention of food and nodded as Joyce quietly shut the door behind her.

 

Opening the door of the bedroom and stepping out to the hallway, El suddenly felt nervous, tugging up the sleeves of the oversized Roane county fair sweatshirt and trying to smooth down her damp, curly hair. Quietly stepping along the carpeted floor, still covered in winding vine drawings, she reached the kitchen. Jonathan was cooking by the stove, and the smell of scrambled eggs was filling the room. Hopper was standing by the doorway to the dining room, talking to his police radio in low voice, but looked up to give El a warm smile in greeting as she walked in. Sitting at the round table were Will and Joyce, their small figures leaning to each other, their heads together as they talked quietly. Suddenly feeling like she was intruding, El stood still in the hallway, fidgeting with the sleeves of the sweatshirt. Jonathan turned from the stove to scoop the eggs on plates and saw her, startling slightly. Joyce turned in her chair to look at her, a reassuring smile on her face.

“Hey, sweetheart. Feeling any better now?”

“Yes,” El said in a voice not louder than a whisper but Joyce heard her, nodding as she turned to Will. The small boy looked up at El, his tired but calm eyes lined with heavy dark circles looked at her curiously from below the straight line of his bangs.

“Will, honey. This is Eleven,” Joyce told him calmly.

“I know, I remember,” he answered with a small smile.

He did not remember what she looked like, but he did remember her reaching out to him in the Upside Down, holding his hand and telling him that his mom would be coming to save him. He had heard so much about the mysterious and powerful girl during the past year, he wasn’t quite sure what to expect. But now she was standing in his kitchen, with wet, curly hair, uncertainty in her wide eyes, and wearing Jonathan’s old sweater, looking so normal, so regular, so far from the dimension-portal opening superhero he had imagined. But he could see that side in her too, as her eyes shifted to meet his; the unbelievable strength that radiated from deep within them. Will stood up from his seat, his small frame still aching, bruises visible around his wrists and shoulders.

“Hi, Eleven. I’m Will. It’s nice to finally meet you,” he said in his small voice, stretching out his hand to her. For a second, silence hung in the kitchen, as El’s uncertain eyes fleeted between Will’s outstretched hand, Joyce and Hopper. Worry filled Will’s face for just a moment before El quickly crossed the distance between them and hugged the small boy tightly. Will jumped a bit, but answered the hug, wrapping his skinny arms around her.

“I’m so happy to see you,” El said in a quiet voice filled with relief, leaning her head on the boy’s shoulder, water droplets falling from her wet hair to his t-shirt.

“I’m happy to see you too. I’ve heard so much about you,” Will said as they slowly broke apart. El smiled, happy tears in her eyes as he continued. “My mom told me what you did last night,” he said while glancing over at Joyce, who also had tears glistening in her eyes as she nodded. Turning back to El, Will said:

“You saved us all, again. I don’t know how I can ever thank you enough.”

“I’m so sorry, Will,” El said suddenly, everyone turning to her in surprise.

“Wh-what do you you mean, sweetie?” Joyce asked, reaching from her seat to gently hold her arm. Biting her lip and shifting in her place, El continued, tears flowing from her eyes.

“The gate. I opened it. What happened to you, it was my fault. I’m so sorry.” There were scraping sounds against tile as Joyce stood and swiftly came over to El, wrapping her arms around her.

“There is nothing to be sorry about, honey, it’s okay,” she said quietly and reassuringly.

“Yeah, and you closed the gate and single-handedly saved us all last night!” Will added encouragingly, rubbing her shoulder.

“So I think you more than redeemed yourself.” Pulling away from Joyce, El sniffed, wiping snot and tears away from her face with her sleeve.

“Re-redeemed myself?” she asked through her tears, looking up at Hopper, who had just put his police radio away. He scratched his beard, thinking for a second before answering:

“It means that even if you have done something before that isn’t good, you have now done something good to make it better, you have been forgiven.” Forgive. That’s a word she knew well. She had forgiven Lucas on that junkyard, and she had forgiven Hopper last night in the car. Nodding slowly and turning back to Will, she smiled a bit and said:

“Thank you for forgiving me.” And then she wrapped her arms around the small boy once again, so relieved they were finally together, both with their families, both safe.


End file.
